.:5:.

Barry ran his hands over his face as he walked into the West house, pulling the door behind him. The warm scent of dinner slapped him in the face and he immediately felt himself relax. It was better than the alternative…frozen dinner that he wasn't sure how long he had it in his freezer or another trip to Big Belly Burger. Unfortunately he had to partake in multiple ventures of the fast food restaurant in different cities or else the amount of food he would buy would earn him some questioning looks.

Nothing was better than having a space where he was able to be himself, to be Barry Allen, the guy that didn't have to worry so much about saving people and working hard to harness his powers. No. Now he was Joe West's 'son' and he could get a free meal and time to hang out whenever he needed it. What he didn't expect, however, was to find Eddie Thawne in the dining room, helping Iris West as she set the table.

His steps slowed as he watched Eddie and Iris interact with each other, stealing kisses as they moved by each other and giggling as they poked fun at the way they arranged the table with their utensils. He sighed quietly, once again stabbed with the realization that he either had to tell Iris how he felt or get over it, so that he wouldn't torture himself so much. But…having to take so much of a step back was already killing him. A shiver went down his spine as his mind immediately shot to the Black Flash and what it had said to him. It knew when he was going to die. So it said. No one was able to tell the future like that, however with as many metahumans out there that could've been created by the Particle Accelerator explosion, or by other means, there were many powers and abilities out there they hadn't figured out yet.

Finally Eddie noticed Barry approach them and pulled away from his kiss with Iris and flashed Barry a smile that was so warm and welcoming that the forensic scientist was momentarily annoyed by how easy it was to get along with the guy. If he was going to dislike Iris's boyfriend he could at least be a jerk.

It was common courtesy.

"Hey Allen," Eddie greeted him, causing Iris to turn around and flash her best friend a bright smile as well. "Good to see you."

"I was hoping you'd show!" Iris hurried over to Barry and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Barry smiled and brought his arms up, hugging her back just as tightly. It wasn't weird, they were still best friends. He wasn't crossing a line in any way. "It's been so long since we've had dinner together, right?"

"Yeah, I've just had so much work I needed to do," Barry said. He let go of Iris and reached out a hand towards Eddie and shook it firmly. They still weren't on the level where they would hug in greeting despite working together and having to be in each other's lives through both of the Wests. "A lot of late nights. Captain Singh is really making sure I finish as much work as I can after my…outburst." His eyes shifted over to Joe West, who walked out of the kitchen wearing oven mitts and gripping a large pan of lasagna. Having heard the last of Barry's statement, Joe cast him an inquisitive glance as he raised an eyebrow. "I was talking about why I haven't been around so much," he said slowly. "How Captain Singh has been keeping me late…to make up for my outburst."

"Oh!" Both of Joe's eyebrows rose before he nodded. "Right. That day you were very much unlike yourself." He cleared his throat as he placed the pan of steaming food in the middle of the table so that he didn't catch Iris's and Eddie's curious glances. Anything that would keep them from asking about what happened when he was under the influence of Bivolo's whammy. "Well, it's good to have you here." He took off his mitts and reached over to give Barry a warm hug, slapping him on the back as he did so.

Barry took a deep breath as he accepted the hug from father to son, even though Joe wasn't really his father. But it was the best he was going to get with his father Henry Allen still in jail. He would take anything he could for some sort of father figure in his life and he was glad Joe was still there through everything to help him out. Especially with keeping his secret as the Flash.

"It's good to be here, I was starting to run out of food," Barry said, rubbing his stomach. He took a deep breath of the tomato-y scent that enveloped them. "And a home cooked meal is much better than doing another Big Belly Burger run."

"Then you should thank Iris," Eddie said, placing his hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. "She was the one that made the delicious smelling dish we're going to have tonight."

"Yep. So you should be nice!" Iris reached out and lightly smacked Barry on the arm. "Or else you're not going to be able to indulge anymore and you'll be stuck eating all of that junk at your apartment." She looked him up and down and sighed. "Lucky you, you can eat anything you want and not regret it later."

How right she was. "You have no idea." Barry cleared his throat for a moment and decided to just go ahead and say what he was going to say. He'll mention it now and explain more to Joe later, to make sure things would work out. "Speaking of, if you can spare any leftovers I'll be glad to take it. I'm going out of town for a few days? Maybe a week tops depending on how long things take."

"Oh really?" Joe looked a little suspicious as he took in Barry's nervous shuffling of the feet. It was a thinly veiled lie, but what else was there to say? If he gave away too much information at the beginning, he wouldn't be able to have enough time to cover his bases. His mind always worked at a mile a minute, now that he could process thoughts that much faster it was better than he stayed quiet and not allowed his nervous need to fill silences to get the best of him. "Where are you going?"

"Starling City." At the mention of the city name, Joe understood the severity of the situation and visibly relaxed. "There's a conference that's being held out there that Dr. Wells, Caitlin, and Cisco are going to and they asked if I wanted to go with them." He paused for a moment, gauging whether or not Iris and Eddie was buying his story. They listened quietly, appearing interested. "It's a great opportunity and I figured because I've never asked for a day off so I don't think it'll be difficult for it to be granted."

As Iris folded her arms across her chest, Barry noticed the pout that was working its way onto her face and Barry inwardly sighed. Whenever Iris pouted she normally got her way on whatever issue it was. When they were young and fighting over who got the last piece of pie she pouted and he gave in to her. Part of it may have been because it was so cute to him before, and now border lined on sexy, but he knew he was treading a fine line. "You're not going to be around?" Iris asked. She stuck out her lower lip in a pout and he let out a quiet sigh of frustration. "But what about all of our traditions? It's almost Christmas, Bare. The most wonderful time of the year, remember?"

"I know, but this is a really important thing that we're all going to," Barry insisted. Going after Captain Boomerang was the most important thing, especially after his last run-in with the Suicide Squad. "Dr. Wells didn't even think they would be invited to the conference because of what happened but they're all going and he asked if I would go with them. As an apology or something, I don't know. I can't miss an opportunity like this."

"You certainly can't," Joe spoke up, coming to Barry's aid. "A conference as big as that is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

"Yeah…" Iris's shoulders slumped.

"It sounds like it'll be a lot of fun," Eddie added helpfully, though everyone knew the last thing Eddie was interested in was a conference about anything science related. Not that he wasn't completely against it, but much like Joe and Iris, there were many times where he found himself completely blindsided by Barry's smarts within those fields.

"Yeah, I'm sure it will be." Barry did his best to hide his smile. As serious as the situation was, he always found it to be a rush—no pun intended—when he was able to use his abilities.

Iris nodded along with the conversation. She thought for a moment then her eyes lit up and a charming grin lit up her face, showing off her pearly whites. She then walked over to Barry and placed a hand on his shoulder. "How would you like some company? Maybe Eddie and I can come with you?"

"What?" Barry asked.

"What?" Joe asked in surprise.

"What?" Eddie repeated, though his question had more of an edge to his tone. His blue eyes were wide with disbelief and he continually shifted his gaze back and forth from Joe to Barry. This certainly wasn't something he had anticipated to be sprung upon him. Not when it was the holidays and he already had plans of his own for the two of them.

"It's perfect!" Iris now grinned at her boyfriend before making eye contact with all three of the important men in her life. They all held differing expressions of disbelief on their faces, but it just spurned her on. "You've been saying for a while now that you would like to take some time off for yourself. What's the better than around the holidays? And I haven't been to Starling City in years; it'd be an adventure for all of us." She then clasped her hands together and gazed at her father. "What do you say? Could you handle things on your own for a few days?"

"I can handle myself just fine, baby," Joe replied. He slowly started to smile, his grin matching his daughters, eyes flicking back and forth from Eddie to Barry. "That's not what I'm worried about." He cleared his throat. "But I can't have you stay in a place that's as extravagant as Starling City while you're on a student's budget. I'll pay for the room. Both of them."

Barry bowed his head to hide his smile as Joe turned a strong gaze towards Eddie, who had the right sense to look away act as if he had no basis in the conversation whatsoever. He had the same thought that Joe had; the romance of the upcoming holiday complete with the romantic city that was Starling…ugh it made his stomach twist and turn just thinking about it. And having to deal with that while trying to stop Captain Boomerang? It made him wish, once again, that he could've turned out normal after the explosion. Or that he was able to turn a blind eye on more things, Joe could handle the whole Iris-Eddie thing on his own.

"Come on! It'll be fun!" Now Iris turned her charm towards her boyfriend, who had never been able to resist it before. He let out a low sigh, already dashing his plans on his own traditions to start with Iris and turned towards Barry with a light shrug as if to say 'if-it's-alright-with-you'. Barry shrugged back in reply and Iris smiled, clapping her hands. "Oh this is going to be so much fun. While Barry is in his meetings we can go sightseeing around the city…maybe we can even meet up with Oliver Queen. You're still friends with him, right Barry?"

"Uh…right." We're both superhero-vigilantes that are doing their best to keep both of our cities safe all the while keeping each other's identities. Yeah, we're still friends.

"Great! Then it's all settled! This is going to be so much fun!" Iris turned back to Eddie and placed her hands on his cheeks. "We can start our own traditions out in Starling and then when we're back here in Central we can do the ones we have for Christmas! It's a win-win!" She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him.

Eddie already under the scrutiny of Joe West, didn't want to anger him even further and gave her a peck in response before gently pushing her away. "Why don't we dig into the food and you can tell us more about the conference, Barry?" he suggested.

"Grrrrrreat," Barry stretched out through gritted teeth that he masked as a smile. He just had to figure out some other things that would sound like he really was going to a conference.

If only he was a better liar.

"Brady, are you coming with us to Starling City or not?" Exasperation crept into Cadence's tone before she could stop it. "I need to know so we can tell your school. If not, you're going to stay here." Sighing, Cadence leaned against the doorframe to her son's room and briefly closed her eyes. And stay where? She asked herself. There weren't many people around the city other than those in STAR Labs that knew about their arrangement and she wasn't in the mood to go into it with someone that didn't know, selfish reasons aside. And I'm not sure how the school would react if I took him from school again.

"I don't know!" Brady replied in a huff filled with attitude. He stared at the screen of his video game, clearly not wanting to be disturbed.

"You don't know if you don't want to go?"

"I don't know."

Anger flared within Cadence and she lost control of her powers for a brief moment. Long enough for the placement of her shoulder on the doorframe to burst into flames and set off the smoke alarms. Pushing herself off, she pressed her palm against the flame and it immediately went out, leaving the tiniest hint of a mark in its place. She held her breath for a moment before turning on her heel and leaving the room. She couldn't continue the conversation without losing her temper even further and the last thing she was going to do was put him in danger in any way.

Going back to her room she kicked at the top of her open suitcase before taking a stack of clothes that sat atop her bed and dropping it into the case. She went over to her closet to pick up some more when she heard a light tapping at her window. Turning around, she found Barry tapping his finger against the window from where he sat perched on her fire escape. Once he saw he had her attention he smiled and waved and Cadence returned the gesture before walking over and opening the window.

"Hey Tholly," she greeted him as he ducked his head and climbed through the window. "What are you doing here?"

"I was in the neighborhood," Barry replied. Closing the window behind him, Cadence gave him a disbelieving look and he held his hands up defensively. "Honest. I was out for a run. I stopped at Joe's place for dinner and while the food was good, I was still hungry."

"So you did your usual Big Belly run and then found yourself in my neighborhood?"

"Yeah. But I did want to talk to you about something." He shifted his feet, pushing his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Last time we were here, Brady seemed to be really upset. And I don't want to overstep my boundaries with this but…I was wondering if things were okay."

"If by 'okay' you mean that I'm constantly being snapped at, yelled at, and disrespected? Then things are great." Crossing her arms, Cadence turned on her heel and motioned for Barry to follow her out to the kitchen. He followed her, eyebrows coming together in his confusion.

"Then why aren't you doing anything about it? It's obviously really bothering you." He gratefully took the ice cream carton she handed him. Taking the spoon she offered he dug out a big scoop and started eating. Cadence, on the other hand, opted for a glass of water.

She thought for a long moment and then her shoulders slumped. She knew why she wasn't saying or doing anything about it, but didn't know how to articulate it. Brady wasn't spoiled by any means; she was pretty good at giving him rules and boundaries and knew that letting him talk to her so disrespectfully was just teaching him that when he was angry he could do whatever he wanted.

"Because it hurts," she said finally. "Seeing the way he glares at me, how he's always snapping at me…it hurts more and more each and every time. And he's never done this before. I guess I'm just really…at a loss at figuring out how to figure out what is wrong. We used to be able to talk about anything and now I feel like I'm the blame for everything and I don't know what to do."

She let out a shuddery breath, holding back the tears that were threatening to fall down her cheeks. She had thought his teenage years were going to be the most difficult ones, not when he was only eight years old. Wanting to take the attention off her, she motioned towards Barry. "Did you ever get into a fight with your Mom?"

Mouth full, Barry tilted his head to the side as he thought about it. "Maybe once," he said slowly, voice muffled from the melting dessert. "I think I was mad that she wouldn't take me to the toy store. So I got on my bike and only made it halfway down the block before she grabbed me and took me back home. I was grounded for a day."

"What did you want so badly at the toy store?"

"A Superman action figure."

"Figures." Cadence finished her glass of water and reached over, placing it in the sink. "At the moment I'm trying to figure out whether or not Brady wants to come to Starling City with us without getting the proverbial daggers flung into my back from his eyes."

"Have you thought about asking Ryder?" Barry was slow to ask the question, unsure of how she was to react to it.

Nodding, Cadence rested her hands against the counter she was sitting on and kicked her legs back and forth. "I asked him earlier today." It had been hard for her to decide to ask if he wanted to take their son for a week. She had stopped by the construction site to find him and the two had taken a quick walk around the block as she brought it up to him. It hadn't been easy as the tension from their last conversation from years before continued to plague them.

"You want me to take him for a whole week?" He asked her as they strolled along. "You think you can spare him that long?"

"Probably not," she admitted. "But it's just as well, we're not really getting along right now and I don't know if he can miss much more school." She lifted a hand and brought it through her hair. "Look, I know its short notice, but can you take him?"

"I'd love to," Ryder said honestly. "I really would. But I have another project that I'm working on and it'll take up a lot of my time." Cadence waited for him to elaborate but he stayed silent, turning his gaze towards the ground.

"What sort of project?" She finally asked.

"It's nothing big, really. Just something that recently came up. I needed the extra cash while I wait for the office building job to bring in my paycheck. It's going to take up my nights along with what I'm doing out here, so…"

For someone that wanted to see Brady so badly, Cadence couldn't see why he was being so evasive. What sort of project would it be that he was working on to keep him from spending time with him. Only one thought that would make sense entered her head. Cadence paused and regarded Ryder with a critical gaze. "Ryder, please tell me you're not a stripper," she said.

Caught off guard by her accusation, Ryder nearly tripped over his own feet. He then laughed and lightly shook his head. "I'm not a stripper. If I was, don't you think you'd know?"

"I'd hope I'd know, that's why I asked." She paused. "So you're not a stripper?"

"No! And my project is being kept under wraps right now so I can't tell you anything else. I really would take him if I could, but I can't. I'm sorry."

"Okay. Thanks anyway."

She still wasn't 100% sure he was telling the truth, but that would be very hypocritical of her. She hadn't told him about her abilities or who Barry really was, or what she did to help Central City when she wasn't working, what STAR Labs really was, what really happened in Central City…and she wasn't going to until the time was right and she knew she could trust him again. The realization made her roll her eyes. Now I get why Barry's so adamant about it. She looked up as Brady walked into the kitchen, obviously having heard Barry's voice as he went straight to him.

"Hi Barry! Do you want to see the science project I'm doing for school?" He asked.

Barry looked over at Cadence and she nodded encouragingly. Then Barry smiled and nodded at "Uh, sure, but let me just finish talking to your Mom, okay?"

The eight-year-old's face screwed up as he wrinkled his nose. "You spend a lot of time with her," he remarked. "What about me? Don't you like hanging out with me? I'm more fun." He reached up and grabbed onto Barry's arm, tugging on it. "C'mon, I want to show you my new game."

"Brady," Cadence warned him. "Be patient."

"I am being patient. I just don't know why he wants to spend more time with you." He widened his eyes innocently. "You're a liar."

"I'm not a liar. What have I lied to you about?" Cadence watched as Brady scrunched up his mouth once more and turned on his heel, stomping out of the room. "Braden Nash, if you keep up this attitude, you're going to be grounded."

Brady turned back towards his mother and narrowed his eyes. Finally, he took a deep breath and spat, "I know Ryder is my Dad!"

His words were like an explosion that shot through the kitchen. Barry made a light gasping sound and looked as if he were very uncomfortable but didn't know how to leave the room. Brady stubbornly crossed his arms as Cadence jumped down from the counter and pulled out a chair from their kitchen table. She sat down and placed her hands on Brady's shoulders, pulling him closer to her.

"Ow," he whimpered as she held tightly onto him. "You're hurting me."

"How do you know that?" She asked in a low, serious tone.

"I heard you talking about it in the car," Brady replied. "I wasn't asleep." He took a deep breath and repeated, "You lied to me."

"I didn't lie to you; I just didn't tell you the truth." Cadence ran a hand over face and up into her hair. She glanced over at Barry who whistled quietly, turning away. "Wow, that didn't sound as good. What I mean was I didn't tell you who your father was because I didn't think he wanted to be in your life. And when he showed up again, to come with us to Central City, I didn't know how to introduce him to you or how you were going to react to him. Or if he wanted to be with you. I hate to break it to ya bud, but not everyone that's in a similar position has both parents who want to be in their lives."

Now Brady looked confused and a little hurt. That's what she had been hoping to avoid all together, that he wouldn't really understand any of their reasonings for their decisions surrounding his birth. "He doesn't want to be my Dad?"

"No, he does but…it's really complicated. Right now it's against the rules for him to have you for an extended amount of time unless he works it out with me first. If you wanted to stay here, and if he wasn't busy, you were going to stay with him."

"Oh."

"And if it weren't the case we're going to Starling, I don't think it's appropriate for him to spend time with you without me there right now. There are some things that we need to work out."

"Like with Gramma and Papa?"

"Exactly."

"Oh." Brady uncrossed his arms and dropped them to his sides. "Mom," he said quietly. "I'm sorry." He moved forward and wrapped his arms around her neck. Cadence hugged him, gently rubbing his back as she squeezed him hard. She was glad to see he wasn't angry anymore, for the moment. He was bound to be angry about it all over again, she knew he was incredibly confused and was just taking her word for it as he didn't know the entire story surrounding their circumstance.

"It's okay bud, don't worry about it," Cadence said. Though she knew it was going to be hard to get over it. Like she had said to Barry, she had never seen him so angry before, especially with her. It wasn't going to heal the hurt that he managed to inflict upon her. Not anytime soon. It wasn't going to be that easy.

"I want to go to Starling City," he added, still holding onto her, voice muffled by his neck.

"Great!" Barry spoke up once more, grateful for a different subject to talk about. He would've left sooner but hadn't known if he should have or if it would have become more awkward as he had already been there for most of the conversation. Not that the tension had eased a little, he was back to his slightly awkward self. "Cisco and Caitlin are already on their way there, we can meet up with them later." He placed the empty carton of ice cream on the counter. "Do you still want to show me your science project?"

"Yes." Brady kissed his mother on the cheek. "I love you, Mom."

"I love you, too." Cadence hugged him again before patting him on the back. "Go show Barry your project and I'll clean up here."

"Okay." Brady moved away from his mother and led Barry out of the room.

Cadence leaned against the back of her seat and sighed heavily, bringing her fingertips to her forehead. She briefly wondered how long she could give herself a fever before people started to worry enough to send her to the hospital. Anything to give her time to figure things out.

Harrison frowned as he paced back and forth in front of Gideon. "There's nothing not he Black Flash? That's impossible."

"I'm sorry Dr. Wells, but nothing has come up within every parameter of searchers you wanted me to conduct," Gideon, his personal AI replied. "There are no responses."

Placing his hands on his hips, Harrison paced once more. He then snapped and slowly turned back to Gideon, staring at the empty digital database in front of him. "Search 'Death' and 'The Flash'" he instructed.

"Certainly."

And as Harrison watched, numerous reports popped up onto the digital database, all having to deal with the Black Flash and the Flash that had managed to fall to him.

A/N: For those wondering, the Rogues will be mentioned every now and then, but they won't become big characters until after the Flarrow crossover is finished, so within a few more chapters, depending on how long I stretch things in Starling City out. Though if you have any ideas to bring Snart and Mick in more before then, feel free to let me know.

As for Brady's part, I didn't want to have his anger go on for so long, especially as the plot with Ryder will continue in other areas and he has an even bigger storyline to go through.

That being said, now that they're all in Starling City, things are certainly going to become more interesting. ;) I'm really excited for you to see what's going to happen with the Arrow portion of the crossover.

Review Reply

Guest: I think it's more awkward for Caitlin to keep the secret than it is for being with Harrison at all.

Cheers,

-Riles